Thursday’s Writing Tip – Let go of fear!

Everyone has their own things that ‘scare’ them with writing. For me, it was the thought of writing two or three things at the same time. I just couldn’t fathom creating such wildly different (or even similar) stories at the same time. But over the past couple of months it’s been happening.. Slowly and sneakily other ideas have, or are, gathering form quicker than I expected or even wanted.

Why have I been scared of this? Well I’ve been worried that it’ll take the ‘passion’ out of my current pet love (BirthRight) and that it’ll stop me reaching my desired deadline of Christmas. But I’m beginning to realize a few things.

The more I create, the more I can create. When I get stuck on a scene in Awakening I’m finding that if I shift to something different (can’t get much more different than A Wet & Wild night ;p) it allows other ideas in and then I can solve the dilemma in a way that just didn’t occur to me before.

Now the next thing that made me nervous was ‘but if I’m working on something other than Awakening, how will I finish it in time?’

To which one of those ‘other’ voices in my mind (and if you’ve read The Arrival, you’ll be familiar with this concept) quietly pointed out.

‘would you prefer to be stuck with writers block for a week, doing nothing. OR. Write something else for an hour, which breaks the writers block and allows you to work on Awakening. 1 hour lost compared to a week’s worth of writing time.’

And that other voice isn’t wrong. It adds up well.

I’m still fighting off the panicky silly voice at the moment, it’s doing a lot of hyperventilating and has major butterflies – which SUCK! But slowly and surely, all my projects are developing.

And I’m getting the beginnings of a rush of adrenaline as it all works. I have to say, my motto in life really is

‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’

It’s just that sometimes it takes a while to ‘recognize’ what your fears really are.

It took me a moment to realize that's a penguin w/ symbols (gotta wake up!)

Usually when my writing gears grind to a halt it means I've been working too long without a break and I need to stop. So I do and by the time I come back I'm ready to go again.

My writing fears all have to do with the future and being published. I know not everyone will like my stories but I get so terrified no one will and this is despite the fact I have crit partners who think my story is very good (a little editing is needed a few have added but overall they liked it.)

Ahh Pat – we all have either faced that one or have to face it. At some point you will just kick in with a 'So long as I love it, I'll manage' attitude. And most people will love it. It's just the few that it won't cinch for and then even fewer who'll leave hard reviews. And everyone needs editing *grin* especially those writers who think they are so good they don't bother with it ;p

I've been hearing the advice a lot recently that the best way to cure writer's block is to work on something completely different from your main project, so sounds like it's workign for you if you've got that adrenaline going!

You have to write to get better, so even if it is crap you better get something written down…

Many hugs

Sarah

PS OMG –> wedding dramas galore here. SIX weeks after the RSVP for England SEVEN people have decided to come. can't WAIT to see them they are just awesome but OMG. seating plan out the window and i have 69 guests for a maximum of 64 seats… lol

I think you have made some brave decisions when it comes to your writing and I really admire that.

As for me, it's hard to find time to write with a family and a day job but I do it, because I am afraid I will look around one day when I'm really old and feel like I didn't try hard enough to fulfill my dreams. Then it will be too late. Not going to let that happen.

Wonderful post! I totally agree with your motto in life. It reminds me of a favourite saying by Nelson Mandela which goes something along the lines of. 'Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.'

I try to stay true to that too. Thanks for sharing your fears and how you're dealing with them. We can all learn from each other that way. 🙂

I always have several story lines going on at one time. It saves me from having writer's block. If I get stalled on one story it is easy for me to jump over and work on the other ones for a bit. Mix it up, give some variety.

Thank you for stopping by my website. Be sure to visit my blog for sneak snippets of what I'm working on. And don't forget to grab your free copy of The Arrival via the Book Store (in the tabs at the top of the page) - enjoy!